For Addison Fairchild, success is a guarantee. Groomed since childhood to run a division of Fairchild Enterprises, she takes her birthright seriously. Maybe a little too seriously if you ask her friends. But work is so much easier than the rest of her life. Her employees hate her, her best friend is worried about her, and her last date was hide-in-the-restroom awkward. If all that wasn’t bad enough, she’s stuck with a new cheerful-happy-annoyingly-morning-person assistant just when the head of FE is about to choose a successor—a job Addison wants so badly, she can taste it.
For Katie Cooper, money has never been important. That is, until her father gets dementia and needs full time care. As the bills start to pile up, Katie takes a second job as a temporary personal assistant. Two minutes and one spilled cup of coffee later, she’s sure she’s not ready for Addison Fairchild—her hard head, her know-it-all attitude, or her gorgeous face.
Forced to work together, Addison and Kate discover that opposites really do attract.
About the Book
Calendar Girl
by Georgia Beers
Series
n/a; standalone
Genre
Adult
Contemporary Romance
LGBTQ Romance
Publisher
Bold Strokes Books
Publication Date
November 13, 2018
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Elley’s Review
Calendar Girl is a contemporary romance perfect for those who love a good opposites attract story, office romances, or ice queens who actually try really hard not to melt all over the place.
First off, I love Katie. I like to think I’m something of a Katie, so *warm hugs all around.* Katie is a mug of warm hot chocolate with real marshmallows (and probably a nip of Bailey’s). And then there is our ice queen, Addison. Ohhhhh, Addison. *smh* I actually really love how well Georgia Beers built these women into fully real women, not just cardboard cutouts of characters. Addison is pretty horrible sometimes, but I still felt myself hurting for her and worrying about her. Both characters go through a lot of growth throughout the book, which is always something I love to see – especially Addison needs to do a lot of soul searching. While the main story centers around the romance between Addison and Katie, there is also plenty of meat around Addison’s addiction to her work, her relationship with her family (I ADORE her little sister and would love to read a book about her!!), as well as Katie’s struggles with her family situation as her father’s health deteriorates and her mother struggles to take care of him, pay bills, and slowly lose the man she loves. (Seriously, I’m dying right now…) I want to wave this book in the face of anyone who says romance is shallow nonsense and not worthwhile and be like “look at all the serious stuff and the drawing together of family and the strength of spirit and UGH I LOVE IT SO MUCH!”
The only thing I didn’t really like about Calendar Girl was how abruptly the ending steamrolled in. It could have benefited from some sort of epilogue checking back in on Addison and Katie and how’re they’re getting on after some amount of time later. I’d have really loved an epilogue with the two of them at the annual fundraising gala the following year, maybe with some elements that clue the reader in on how Katie’s mom and dad are doing as well. That would have wrapped the book up a little more smoothly, I think.
This was one of the first F/F romance novels I’ve read, so I found myself drawing a lot of comparisons to M/F romance and comparing Addison to the “guy” in straight romance, which I had to keep telling myself not to do because lesbian relationship are NOT just hetero relationships with one woman taking on the “man’s role.” That’s not how I read M/M romance, so it was interesting to try to recognize my own biases as they came up while reading and try to nip that in the bud. I’m glad to have broadened my reading horizons, and this will definitely not be my last F/F romance or my last read by Georgia Beers!
Disclaimer
The review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All titles reviewed on this blog are a fair and honest assessment of the book. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this review. For more information regarding our review process, please visit our Review Policy & Review Request Submission page.